“For Willem de Kooning, drawing was absolutely essential”

100 years after he emigrated to the United States, Willem de Kooning returns to his homeland through the exhibition ‘Willem de Kooning at Work’, on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

“For Willem de Kooning, drawing was truly essential to his body of work; it was the foundation of everything he did,” explains Ludo Van Halem, curator of 20th-century art at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. With natural light interplaying with soft artificial lighting, the museum’s temporary exhibition spaces are adorned with over 120 works by the artist Willem de Kooning. A true ‘homecoming’ for the artist, who had fled clandestinely to the United States at the age of just 22 to work as a house painter.

Drawing: an art form in its own right

Viewing drawing not as preparatory work but as an art form in its own right, de Kooning explored all its forms – both in style and in technique. Chalk, paint, charcoal, black and white or colour – everything becomes a possibility, explains Ludo van Halem. As he wanders through the large exhibition hall, he stops in front of the work Pink Angels. “This is the perfect example of a hybrid work. He began with a charcoal drawing. Then he painted these layers of yellow and pink, and finally, he went back to drawing with charcoal on the wet paint,” he explains.

A pioneer of Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting, de Kooning began drawing and painting at a very early age. A graduate of the Rotterdam School of Arts and Crafts, the young artist developed a passion for a range of subjects, including the human figure and landscape. With a highly uneven brushstroke and vivid or deep colours, the painter blends these themes until they are no longer recognisable in the work. A true fusion that gives rise to the titles of many of these works: figure in the landscape or figure and landscape.

A Dutch master

Whilst the artist refused to be associated with any art movements, his work nevertheless possesses a recognisable style. His unique body of work has therefore not been confined solely to temporary exhibition spaces. Two of his paintings are on display in the Gallery of Honour alongside the great Dutch masters. “For us, it’s wonderful to see de Kooning here at the Rijksmuseum in the context of Rembrandt,” enthuses Taco Dibbits, the museum’s director-general. “Just like Rembrandt, de Kooning was obsessed with lines and light, and both were great draughtsmen,” he explains

In the Gallery of Honour – a grand, vaulted corridor – the paintings Woman and I from the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Woman and Bicycle from the Whitney Museum of American Art catch visitors’ eyes with their large scale and vibrant colours. “We chose these two paintings because they are iconic works by Willem de Kooning (…) and also because there are bicycles in the museum’s courtyard and one of the paintings depicts a woman with a bicycle – to us, that’s very Dutch,” laughs Tacco Dibbits.

As the artist was very demanding and often self-critical of his work, many of his pieces were destroyed and then redone until he achieved the desired result. This dedication to drawing can be seen at the Rijksmuseum until 17 January.

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